Her
by AngelaRB
Summary: What was going through Daryl's mind during THAT moment in the season premiere. You know which one I mean...


They were free. For a little while, at least, they were free.

Terminus had been a sanctuary of a bunch of goddamn cannibals who drew in desperate people to be pork chops for them. As they walked through the woods, Daryl tried to fight the thoughts that had overwhelmed him since he realized where they truly were before all hell broke loose.

Who else had been there in that kill room before them? How many people had become food for those people?

Had Carol seen those signs when she was out there all alone? Had she arrived at those fences thinking that maybe, just maybe, she'd meet up with some friendly faces who could help keep her safe? Carol was the best person he'd ever known no matter what Rick said she did, and just a flash of the idea that she may have died that way made him want to fall to his knees and scream.

Those days that he'd spent with Beth (shit... Beth... he hadn't seen any cars with crosses on them, which made him feel a little better about her fate) did a lot to him. Beth was just a kid, but she still kept that amazing positive attitude and sense of hope even with all of the shit she'd seen. She'd watched her damn dad get his head chopped off with just a fence between them, but she still thought people were mostly good. Beth had inspired him in the way he looked at the world and the people around him.

Daryl had decided to stop being afraid of himself. He had always been this quiet tough guy who worked on cars and hunted deer in the woods on week long treks by himself who didn't need anyone. Even after the world ended and he found this new family, he tried to hold on to that part of him.

Then he found Carol.

He'd been drawn to her from the first moment he really met her. She wasn't always a great beauty that he would have been drawn to before, but there was just something about her. Carol seemed to care about other people more than herself. She held a lot of shit in. She'd been abused and gone through hell for most of her life.

He saw himself in her.

Then, as he got to know her even more, he noticed more things about her. He noticed the way her blue eyes always seemed to shine, the way she'd force a smile even when the world around her was falling apart, the way she wanted to learn how to fight with the rest of them... Daryl would often find himself staring at her when she wasn't looking, because there was always something new to discover about her. She became more beautiful to him every day.

Daryl didn't know how to define the word love. He wasn't sure if he'd ever felt something definable called love before. Nobody, except Merle a few times after he'd been drinking, ever told him that they loved him so he always assumed the word was a myth created by people who needed to invent things to feel.

Then he'd met Carol.

He didn't know if what he felt for her was something romantic he'd never felt before, what people in books called soulmates, or what the hell it was... All he knew that if she was still here he would be hers if she would have him. Daryl didn't even know what that meant. He just knew it to be true. She didn't have to give herself to him, but he'd give himself to her until the day he died if he could.

Always the tracker, Daryl spotted the place where they'd buried the bag. "It's right here."

As he leaned against a tree and listened to the people around him debate about going back to finish the job at Terminus, he almost agreed with Rick. He wanted something to take his mind off of it all.

Then he heard a stick crack in the direction where Rick was talking.

He looked over and expected to see a lone walker that could be taken out in mere moments. Carol. Carol. Was he hallucinating? Had he died at Terminus and gone to a heaven he didn't believe in? The old Daryl would have walked up to her and given her a polite nod and told her that he was happy she was alive. The old Daryl would have held it all back.

He completely let go. Stop being afraid. Thanks, Beth.

Daryl sprinted toward her and threw himself in her arms. He buried his face in her neck and smelled her sweet smell. He smelled dirt and grime and walker guts, but under all of that was just _her_ and he couldn't get enough of it. He marveled over the way Carol sighed when he briefly lifted her off of her feet and cradled her head. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and lie there in the leaves with her. He never wanted to let her go.

When they finally broke apart from their embrace, Daryl didn't know what to do. All he could think of was to bury his head in her chest for a brief moment. _ I'm yours, Carol. I'll never let you go again. You're the reason I'm still here. _Daryl didn't even think to hide the fact that tears were streaming down his cheeks.

When they made their way to the cabin where Ty was with the Asskicker, they cleared the Terminus douchebags body out of there and decided to hole up there for a bit to figure out what to do next. It got dark, there wasn't a sign of a walker growl outside, and they decided to sleep in shifts. Carol dozed off of the floor in the corner, and Daryl sat next to her and watched over her for hours.

His girl was back, and he'd never let her out of his sight again.


End file.
